The Gman VR review

I built a few new gaming systems recently, to upgrade/replace some aging ones, and decided wtf, I'd try the VR headsets, despite not thinking they were up my alley, due to past experiences and how little I honestly like and use TrackIR.
So, I bought the Vive and Rift - I had 2 used ones hooked up, but PSA, if you aren't the FIRST owner of the unit, both companies deny your 1 year warranty - not that 1 year is much, but I figure if they are going to fail fast, it's nice to have SOME protection since they aren't cheap, up here especially.

Cost - $914 for the Rift including one Nintendo like game, and $1274 for the Vive, including 3 pretty useless games as well. This was tax/shipping total prices, and they came FAST, I ordered the Vive on a Friday, and it showed up Tuesday. This brings up a valid point, HTC's comms are terrible - I received NO shipping notice or tracking number, and was really surprised when it showed up. Also, they take forever to respond, since I received no shipping notice, I also didn't get the 3 game codes, so it was useless so far as beginner demos/etc until they got back to me - yes I messed with DCS/AH/Elite/etc, but it's not the same thing as going through specific titles made to show you the ropes and capabilities and whatnot.

Setup - Rift, a snap, VERY nice shipping case which is also a storage folding briefcase of sorts, with lock in clamps/stands to hold the headset in place. The Rift is very easy to set up, USB 3.0 plug ins, set up an Xbox controller, plug in the camera, install the software, and you're off.

Vive - set aside a couple hours, with a break time scheduled in there. Mounting the cameras isn't all THAT hard, they send some dry wall anchors/screws, but i just used the little angle nail/metal picture hangars which are good for 25lbs, the cameras are about a pound with the mount. Once you get them pointed and set up, you then have to hook up a handy little command box for your cables, and they give you a decent sticky to mount it, into which the 3 headset cables will plug into, and handle the passthrough to the dedicated PC cables out the back end of it. Software installs easily, and you can then set it up for sitting, standing, and room scale - it sees the hand controllers, and figures out where the floor is and you then draw a boundary you want to play inside of. It's amazingly cool at this step, when you get the first real 3d VR experience, with the lasers shooting out of your controllers in hand, and the big screen with all the options/settings/games etc.

For both units, there are tricks of the trade to know - you can change the pixel density ratio for both units, Oculus there is a specific dev editor tool, while the Vive it's done through editing lines with notepad in the Steam directory folder under settings. Simple really, and many games also have in game settings for this particular feature, DCS being one. Games like DCS also have a lot of VR specific handy commands now, like VR zoom, VR head center, setting left/right mouse buttons, etc. This is for guys who don't want to use a mouse by 'feel' and use the headset as the mouse pointer, which can be done with a little dot dead center, hence the needing of a left/right click function. HTC has some of this stuff going as well, but I'll get into AH and VR in another more dedicated thread, as it deserves its own due to the nature of this forum coming from members there, as well as the impressive work HT has done so far with VR, and some of the future ideas he's posted about it.

For other common VR games for this crowd, Elite and DCS - I never thought I'd say this, but after getting the settings set up properly and having spent some time with both games, I won't be going back to a monitor - and we have the best gaming monitors x 4 different variants you can buy right now. It's that good.

In DCS I have my pixel density set to 1.8, and my other settings optimized for VR - guys smarter than me have gone through and figured out which setting does what optimally in VR for DCS with the 1080 GPU, and I experimented with those, and found them sound. Elite I'm just getting there, but the effect of being in space magnifies how cool VR is there. Anyhow DCS - you can easily read all the gauges, HUD letters/numbers, labels if you use them (realism, ya boo hoo whatever) and other similar details. Using the clickable cockpits is a snap. With the Rift - which is better in DCS, and I won't even qualify that with an "IMO", it just is, it is known - there is a tiny gap you can look down through if you wish by your nose, and easily see the keyboard/mouse without ruining the immersion, if you need it, but the clicking cockpits modules make this a rare thing for me. FC3 a little more common, but n.b.d.

The experience is hard to describe, and youtube videos do it NO justice at all, the reverse in fact I think. Anyhow, being able to look around at the 3d cockpit you're inside, then see outside of your aircraft, and see all that in amazingly done 3D, is a whole new level of great. Flying low level in the A10 is particularly sick, gun runs with the new zoom feature are fantastic now too. Looking around while yanking about, it's just something about how your perceive the environment outside your cockpit window that really...puts you there now. I flew the Gazelle for the first time before writing this, and it's what motivated me to do so - simply incredible the experience is. I've not wanted to "get back to my PC and play" for a while, but VR has brought this bug back, to the point that Jess is bitching about it. That should be all that I need to say, that when the wife ack is firing repeated salvos, and I'm getting the whole "pay attention to me" whines, that something major has happened/changed.

She actually has played the Vive more than I have, the Space Pirate game and other shooter types are actually quite a bit of fun if you set up the room and such for them. Sit down is ok, but the Rift is superior there, however for standing/room scale, the Vive wins hands down there. Walking around aircraft in DCS is amazing too, like being there, really.

Anyhow, I'll write more later about AH3Beta specifically, but overall, it was worth getting into VR, and in a short period of time will be "required reading" for PG gamers. With the new OSVR open source coming from Evil-Corps/Razer (I just got a notice that they will be available for ordering soon, been on the list since AkAk brought them up) for 400$ and being everything the other 2 are, and open source to boot....5 years from now, I don't think monitors will be the key feature in PC gaming they are now, the headset will be primary, the monitor, a distant secondary unit.

It's definitely first gen IMO, the resolution is NOTHING like 1440p, or even 1080p, but it's "ok" - trying to see aircraft at long distances, you can forget that, I've tried every setting with pix density and graphics in DCS and AH, and none compare to a monitor.

Higher res lenses/screens and eye tracking will be a big jump ahead. 5 years from now I think it'll be good enough that gaming on 1440p or 4k monitor will be comparable at least. I hope anyway.

For now, it's not quite a novelty, not quite equal to a good Gsync 1440p/4k panel.

If you haven't tried it yet (probably have), War Thunder is an amazing integration of VR. I'm having a huge blast driving tanks around. It some ways this gives me advantage since I can navigate around easier by sitting on top of turret and having a 360 view around me and then quickly move into scope view.

I might try it with the processor I have, even though it's under min spec. My understanding is I can replace with an i5-4590 (pins should be ok) but I'd likely go as high as possible that would fit the pins. Worst case, new rig that is built to handle VR.

Maybe Russian, it'll depend on the game I think. I know a ton of DCS players using 970s and they don't really complain TOO much about it. The CPU Fury, I don't know if that'll be a major failing point or not, won't really know until you try it, but I think that with that GPU you probably would be OK, at least with most games.

I haven't gotten into WT, I'll try it today with the free stuff in VR to check it out, I've heard good things about it in VR from others too.

That was my first words too, same with Jess, I set her up with the Vive and the archery/castle game, and she wouldn't stfu for about 2 hours about it while playing. Same with the Rift's included jumpy fox Nintendo like whatever the fuck it's called, I had to kick her off of it to get my Rift back to play some DCS with it. We now have 2 each of the Rift/Vive due to conflicts about playing time, and I made her buy the other 2 with "her" money, which she has never used for anything PC related in the past until now. She's even bought games of "her own", hah.

VR for combat simulations is hard to describe until you try it - it still impresses me in some new way every time I fly. Russian put it very accurately for head to head DCS dogfights - "I already know what to expect....one dogfight and I'm physically drained.". I get the same feeling in both DCS and AH3 (for now, the new stuff HT has been implementing will IMO make dogfighting in AH3 not much more tiring than TrackIR). Russian's impressions regarding VR is something I would point anyone towards, since he's a USAF pilot, you can't really get a better opinion regarding the realism and immersion VR can give players. I'd like to hear SuperPug's opinion regarding helo's, or other helo pilots here as well, as the helicopters in VR and DCS is something I'm just starting to mess with, and I'm liking it a lot so far.

Anyhow, hope you post some more of your experience so far Fury, I'm interested to read what your playing experience is like so far.

The Gman VR review

The experience is hard to describe, and youtube videos do it NO justice at all, the reverse in fact I think.

This is the most accurate statement ever made in the history of mankind.

Youtube videos might show you how you can look up, down, around, behind; way more than a hat button ever will (not sure how TrackIR works). But they do not show you what it is REALLY like when you are wearing VR. And there are no words to describe it accurately.

I heard that some Best Buy stores do demos of the Rift. That's the only way someone can understand what it's like to wear these, short of buying one (unless you have a friend who has one). I don't know if the Best Buy demo is the "Dreamdeck" app, but if it is, that demo alone is enough to hook anyone. Hell, the setup procedure, what happens after it tells you to put the headgear on....that setup procedure alone is enough to hook anyone.

This is the future of gaming, there is no doubt about it.

I bought a Rift with my system specs, and set myself up with low expectations since my specs are at or below min (see above).

The setup, demo, and Dreamdeck run flawless.

Elite Dangerous and Aces High III run flawless (so far).

If you know Elite Dangerous (some here do I think)....just imagine sitting in the cockpit, in the landing bay, and pressing Return to Surface....but imagine that silly little procedure with a Rift, where it actually seems as though you are sitting in that seat.

Same with AH III. A quick P38 offline test; look to the left, I swear I could put my hand out (through the canopy of course) and touch the wing. Or downing one of the offline bombers and watching it start to spin out of control, over your head as you pass under it, flames and smoke trailing.

And god dammit kudos to HiTech....the way they blended VR is almost as good or even better than Elite Dangerous in my opinion, based on first-time VR use with each game (configs) and in-game usage of the remote, and about 15 minutes of gameplay on each.

VoiceAttack has never come more in handy now.

Gman, this video is what I think. It's a shitty video and probably has ads,, but this is litrally the first thing that came to my mind when the headgear-on setup started.

Wags at DCS just released some new info regarding VR updates - a lot of great new stuff for DCS regarding VR - not sure how into DCS you are Fury, but you HAVE to try the Rift with any DCS title, DCS by far has the best VR game in terms of in cockpit stuff IMO. Any of modules including the free ones will be an amazing impression - don't get me wrong, Elite Dangerous and AH3 are great, but DCS is really far along.

Glad you got into VR, I was really hesitant myself, having a lot of $ invested into my LCDs, 3 ROG Swifts and $3000 invested into just the screens, but for the games that VR is working well with, I won't go back to them. I hope in a few years that the resolution increases to at least 1440p quality in VR, that's the ONLY down side IMO, and it's not even that big of a deal, the lower res, as the 3d VR effect more than compensates.

The Gman VR review

I do have DCS (older version, all free stuff, have not updated recently), I don't play it much because I suck at it worse than I do in AH. Need lots of stick time and understanding of these modern newfangled aircraft. If I can get to shooting something down and hitting something on the ground I might invest actual money in it.

I want to try Star Citizen but it's downloading the August update right now and my Internet seems to be in trouble today, sporadic 300-Baud speeds, it's taking forever.

Star Citizen and DCS are both next on the VR test, hopefully by later tonight.

I should try Star Citizen too, I haven't messed with it in ages, I have a very, very low Citizen number, backed it during the first week it was announced, but haven't kept up with it. Elite is great, just messing with it this aft again, have to get more into that again too.

The Gman VR review

Something is "wrong" with the latest SC update (I think it's launcher + 2.5)....my 300-baud comment earlier...I pinpointed it to that download causing something with my entire Internet connection. In the pic, 16:14 is with the download active (for 6 hours so far), 18:19 is when I've paused the dl, 18:22 is after unpausing the dl.

It's killing my connection for some reason, and I don't mean sucking up bandwidth, I mean killing the dl and upload throughput....the odd thing is, I can watch the SC update fluctuate from 200kb up to 4mb and back down, so it's not like it's sucking up everything available, it's just making it crawl. It might be another day before I can get the dl to finish.

Fury's Rift review attempt

I'm just going to spam out some initial info on my experience after 1.5 days of having the Rift.

Min system specs recommended:
Current recommendations as of Sept 2016, listed upstream in post #7

My system specs:
In green and red in post #7. You can see my video card is the min and my processor is actually under spec.

Cost:
$635.99 from Best Buy (online), includes tax, free shipping, received in 2 days.

Packaging:
Safely packaged by Best Buy; the Rift case (mentioned by Gman earlier) is very nice and would easily safely transport it.

Install:
Couldn't be more simple. Literally almost plug and play.
Follow the step-by-step instructions at the link provided in the box; cables working when plugged in is confirmed.
I did take the opportunity to update my vid card drivers (was one back) and did have to reboot (hadn't in a while) in order for the HDMI port to be recognized. My existing monitor is in the DVI port, so my HDMI port had never been used.
I was asked to create an Oculus account (I did). There's also an Oculus app that runs when the Rift is in-use, I have not looked at it a lot but my best initial description is something along the lines of Steam.

Glasses:
I do wear glasses, but they are not large and do not go very far past the side of my head. I have no issues wearing glasses with the Rift.

Vertigo:
So far I've experienced very brief vertigo, but only when doing quick movements in game. Nothing to worry about so far.

Demo:
During initial setup, a brief demo is presented. It is incredible first-time viewing. After initial startup, you can download the full demo, it's free. It's called "Dreamdeck" and contains more vignettes than the demo. It is awesome and can be run as much as you want after downloading.

Games:Came with a free game that I haven't even looked at yet. Probably good for VR and playing around, but doesn't look like the kind of game I'm interested in long-term.AH III: actually asked me if I wanted to use VR during startup. I made no adjustments at all in-game, same settings I used during the final Beta.Elite Dangerous: I had to google to figure out how to make VR work (it was not automatic like AH III). The headset knew I was trying to load Elite Dangerous (message in the Rift: 'Sorry we're having trouble loading EliteDangerous64.exe. Please take off your headset and check your computer for error messages'.). There were no messages on the desktop (it still worked fine). Fix: In-game Elite Dangerous configuration: Graphics ---- > 3D ----> HMD Headphones

As of right now those are the only two games I have working.
My understanding is there are games specifically made for VR, or that will work with VR via config (AH and ED as examples), but none that I own. I may check some out (Project Cars probably first).

I now find out that some recent games that are not made for VR can be presented in VR-like (3D?) by using a third-party app called vorpx. It looks to be around $40. I have not tried it yet but I will be doing so, because I want to get Start Citizen up in VR and it looks like Fallout 4 and GTA V are on the list. Getting non-VR games to work in VR is a little extra work (so be prepared), and I can't comment on that since I haven't done it yet.

Honestly, the only reason I got it now rather than later was for AH III, Elite Dangerous, and Star Citizen. You may want to do some online searching to find out what games you like do support it natively versus what games you like might require something like vorpx to be 3D.

Star Citizen: I need to remember this game is still Alpha and I do not think they are working super hard on VR. I only say that because the Rift does no know I am running Start Citizen (like it knows I'm running AH III and Elite Dangerous), I can't find any in-game config nor anything on google saying it is in-game right now, and it appears I need vorpx for VR. Based on how it looks on my flat screen, I am expecting this to be nice once I get it working. If Start Citizen ever sees the light of day and they do VR support natively like AH III and Elite Dangerous, it will be great.

DCS: I'm still working on this. I only have the free DCS world and the free planes that come with it right now, 1.5.2.49392 installed 12-14-14. I'm still googling, I'm not sure if I need to delete and install current DCS or if I need to use vorpx here too....I can't find any in-game config for VR and the googling gets confusing so far. I know it can be done, I just have to get to it.

Resolution:
The resolution in the Rift is just fine for me. The Dreamdeck demo is crisp and clear (I'd expect no less from a demo). The Oculus menus are crisp and clear. The graphics in Elite Dangerous and AH III are perfectly fine for me right now.
Some in-game text that is small or oddly colored (some of the cockpit Elite Dangerous UI) may be slightly blurry, but that doesn't matter to me. I don't seem to have problems with any of the AH III text yet.

Resolution is pretty subjective to each person. I set my expectations low based on my min specs, but so far I am very pleased with it. (Note: I have only about 1 hour each in AH III and Elite Dangerous, my opinion may differ as time goes on).

Summary (opinions):
I first really heard about the Rift back when I started Elite Dangerous a year and a half ago, the consumer version wasn't even out yet. I made myself wait, forgot about it for a while, then Gman and AH III came along. I decided this week I didn't want to wait any more.

I'd be perfectly fine if only AH III and Elite Dangerous work on this. If those were the only two games that worked, I'd call this a splurge on myself. But I know DCS will work, and I'm sure I can get Start Citizen to work, and I am sure there are other games specific for VR or adaptable with vorpx that will work, plus games I don't even know about yet that might interest me.

I can't say this is or is not ready for someone to buy, because the resolution is subjective and gaming likes is subjective. I may hate what you like to play, and you may think I am nuts for getting something like this for two games. Right now I'm only focused on the games I like to play; there are likely things out there made specific for VR that would be awesome. If you are a "first kid on the block" guy, it's ready (although, it's really probably past "first kid on the block" status). If you want to wait for lower prices, second-gen, more VR-specific games, other VR hardware options, not having some additional work to do (like vorpx or non-game and non-Rift tweaks)...might want to wait. My opinion.

I don't know what's coming next with VR and I don't care now that I have one; definitely do some research if you're not sure you're ready for it. Gman, Ack-Ack, Russian, and others here probably know a lot more about this shit and what's coming than I do.

I don't have any regrets spending the money on it. Based on what I've seen so far, this will be the future, for gaming and whatever else they come up with. For me, the experience (indescribable) is worth it.

Gman, Russian, Ack-Ack, feel free to correct anything I may have mis-stated. I don't write reviews much, I tried to stay factual and indicate where my opinions were.

That's nearly exactly my thoughts and experience so far. The cost now is reasonable (I paid more a few months back), and the shipping times very quick. As you said, I bought the Rift for just a few games, and am happy with "just" those ones working as is, DCS, AH3, ED, and soon Star Citizen I hope. Anything else is a bonus - try out Project Cars, it's one of the really good VR car games, I'd bought it during a sale then returned it due to having no controller that worked well (mouse is ass with it). The Xbox unit with the Rift works great, and while the game isn't perfect by any stretch, the VR experience with Project Cars is fantastic. It'll be on sale again during the Black Friday sale I'm sure, so maybe wait till then if you don't have it already, I paid single digits for it during the summer Steam sale.

I wear contacts while using VR, I do have a pair of slim glasses I may try just for kicks. I sometimes take off the foam lining if it's a muggy day, I've only had the lenses fog up a bit once, and I just used the recommended cloth to clean then, and that fixed that.

I really hope you get DCS going, the experience in that sim is the best for Rift VR IMO so far, diving down from high altitude down to the deck and looking over the canopy rails into the valleys - can't be beat, and as I said before, ED/DCS is adding a bunch of VR "fixes" in the next update to really improve the experience and how VR works.

I think the Rift will be "the" standard for sim/cockpit games for at least another couple of years - probably about the same as a high end video card lasts, maybe better. I'm hoping that the 4k Rift that is rumored to be in planning stages is out in a few years, these things will hold their value pretty well IMO, and that's the ONLY negative I have, the resolution, and imagine 4k in the Rift experience right now - perfect, I'd probably sell my gaming LCDs and just keep the one 34" as I doubt I'd be gaming much on them with that high of a resolution in my VR units.

I'm hoping "Onward" becomes Rift compatible soon, it's the only game in the Vive that keeps me owning our Vive's - FPS meets VR, sort of like Arma3 in VR, and with the new stuff AckAck has mentioned about the Rift - support for standing/room scale/etc, I think it'll be fairly soon that Onward will be Rift friendly. That game is amazing, and has huge potential, and IMO other developers will follow suit, and soon we'll have an Arma3 type game that supports both Rift and the Vive, and huge player numbers.

I tell everyone that asks that the Rift is the "sim/serious gamer's" VR unit, while the Vive is the one you buy to show your wife's friends at parties. There are SOME games with the Vive that are ok, and the unit itself is impressive, it's just IMO the sim/cockpit games out there are far superior with the Rift. HT said the same thing regarding the 2 headsets, that while the controllers were cool with the Vive, the Rift was superior with a lot of other stuff for AH3.

Flying AH3 last night, HT really has that hat/VR mix working well, unlike DCS where looking behind/above yourself is an exercise in yoga contortion, with AH3 I just hit up/back/left/right with the hat and it puts my head in a position like TrackIR would, and I can see targets behind/above me while in fights, and also keep good SA when I'm not engaged. I think I'll likely be competitive with VR in AH3, something that I didn't think would happen so quickly.

Subnautica: I bought this game months ago, pre-release, after seeing it on YouTube. To my surprise, it is VR-ready and I tried it a bit last night. XBox controller needed. Fun little game, just swam around looking at stuff.

DCS: My exact version was 1.5.2.49392.141
I finally found google info that VR was better supported as of 1.5.3 r3.

After starting DCS World a couple of times, I got the "do you want to update" prompt. Updated to 1.5.4.56500.155

DCS starts up in VR now, I did not need to change anything, I'm not sure if the System config for VR input recognized I had it.

I did two minutes of "free-flight attack run" or something like that.

a- the vertigo is real, even with minimal joystick movements. More than anything else I've tried so far. Might take some getting used to.
b- oh my god. Especially the cockpit, even more than AH III it seems like I am sitting in it.

The only joystick input that works is flight....I need to go back and look at my mapping...so all I did was fly around in the Su27(?).

I've been on the waiting list for that set too AckAck, since the day you posted about it in fact. I really like the option to change the focus with the Razer set, and obviously if it'll truly be open source and work with most games, that plus the cost makes it a no brainer. If it works well, I'll sell the Rifts and Vives and just use that one. I'm hopeful in a couple years a 4k VR set will come out as the only neg I have is the lower res compared to 1440p/4k monitors.

The Gman VR review

A. The Rift has gotten me back into Elite Dangerous. I played the hell out of it between January-April 2015, revisited a few times since, but now this is the only game I'm playing for the foreseeable future. I need to look into Horizons; I did not spring for it yet because I'm still not sure it is in the same persistent Open Play universe. I have a feeling that I might feel the same about AH III once I tire of ED. The Rift just adds a brand new fresh experience to games.

B. I've found that after 45 min to an hour, I begin to get jitter (judder) when making even the slightest head movements. At first I thought it was my processor (below min spec), but after some research it is likely my card (Nvidia 970, min spec). I can deal with it because I'm not sure I can handle more than an hour at a time anyways. This is one of the most recent googler results I've found that sounds just like my issue m.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments…ingjitter_looking_around/

It also seems that VoiceAttack becomes a little less responsive to certain commands that normally work just fine. That sounds more like processor than video card, but what do I know? I don't even know where the damned mic is on this thing!

C. After seeing more Onward YouTube, including a split-screen of in-game/room view, I can't wait for something like Onward to come to Rift.

I've been on the waiting list for that set too AckAck, since the day you posted about it in fact. I really like the option to change the focus with the Razer set, and obviously if it'll truly be open source and work with most games, that plus the cost makes it a no brainer. If it works well, I'll sell the Rifts and Vives and just use that one. I'm hopeful in a couple years a 4k VR set will come out as the only neg I have is the lower res compared to 1440p/4k monitors.

One of the major selling points for me on the HDK/OSVR is the fact that you can upgrade it to the next version without having to buy a whole new VR goggle set. If the Rift and Vive upgrade their goggles with new features, owners of the older versions are left out and have to purchase new goggles to get the new upgrades. HDK/OSVR owners would just need to purchase the upgrade kit and upgrade their existing goggles without having to purchase a new set.